The day music died: Somali hardliners ban songs

Mogadishu-based radio stations stopped playing all music on Tuesday following an ultimatum by hardline Islamist militia in a sign of the insurgents' tightening grip on the Somali capital.

The city's 14 radio stations turned off the Western, Arabic and modern Somali and other African music that fills up their 18-hour broadcast time after an ultimatum by the Hezb al-Islam group expired.

Hezb al-Islam, which controls patches of the war-wracked capital, had given the popular stations 10 days to shut down "evil" music broadcasts.

"Today we see an official crackdown on the independent media... The local radio stations stopped playing any kind of music or songs after the deadline given by the Islamists came to an end," said Mohamed Ibrahim, an official of the National Union of Somali Journalists.

"We denounce the move as a gross violation against the freedom of expression... because order after order means there will not be any independent media in this country," he said.

The militants' threat affected all radio stations in both government and Islamist-controlled areas of Mogadishu and program signature tunes were replaced with random animal or vehicle sounds.

Hezb al-Islam and the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab militants control much of Mogadishu, the scene of near-daily clashes with the Western-backed Somali government forces.

"The ban was the most appropriate move towards eliminating evil deeds because listening to music and songs are illegal in Islam and anybody who goes against the orders will face consequences," Sheik Mohamed Ibrahim, a top Hezb al-Islam leader, said.

Radio executives said they had no choice but to comply.

"We abide by their rules by abstaining from broadcasting music and songs and instead we are using traditional poems from today on," said Mohamed Haji Bare, director general of Danan Radio.

"No-one dares disobey the orders otherwise you put your life in danger," said Osman Gure, the director of Radio Shabelle, a popular Mogadishu station.